Customer Reviews

Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work (Business Biographies)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the history of the human race, there have been two revolutions in the production of food. Both have made it possible for there to be a dramatic increase in the population. The first was the development of agriculture, once crops began to be cultivated, it was necessary for humans to remain stationary to tend the fields. This led to a dramatic increase in the food supply and the rise of civilization as we know it. The second was the mechanization of agriculture, by eliminating the severe restriction of what human labor could accomplish, it became possible for a few people to accomplish what it had taken many to do before. Had the need for agricultural workers not dramatically dropped, there could have been no industrial revolution.

When Cyrus Hall McCormick was a youth, wheat was not a staple crop. It was easy to grow, but harvesting it was back-breaking physical labor and the technique had not changed for centuries. A man took a hand scythe and cut the wheat plants down. Even the most powerful and fit man could harvest at most a couple of acres a day. This limited the amount he could plant and led to a large amount of spoilage if the weather turned bad before the harvest was in.

McCormick's great invention was the reaper, a device that allowed wheat to be harvested at a rate heretofore unheard of. It led to a dramatic increase in the amount of wheat that could be planted and turned wheat into the staple crop of the human diet. It is hard to understate the impact of his invention.

McCormick was also an excellent businessman; he had to overcome a lot of opposition to his invention. Farmers are a conservative group and most were reluctant to try a new device. There was also the problem of financing, as most farmers did not have the money up front to purchase a reaper. His true genius, and what made him rich, was his belief in the honesty of the farmers. By allowing them very liberal credit terms, he was able to sell large numbers of reapers, created a very wealthy company, and helped drive a dramatic increase in the global food supply. In many ways, it was the tremendous increase in wheat production that drove the rise of the economic power of the United States.

This book is a historical classic of the rise of the industrial era and one of the men who drove it. For without the technical advancements that freed so many people from having to work in agriculture, there could have been no increase in factory workers. McCormick's invention combined with his foresight to make it available to all was a turning point in the history of the United States. Also, when you contrast his behavior with that of most of the other industrial barons of the time, McCormick was also one of the most decent of the nineteenth century giants of the industrial revolution in America.

This short text was informative, but difficult to read because of the poor reproduction quality from the original. Sentence structure was almost non-existent. However, it does allow access to a book not otherwise available.